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First Look: They Actually Made a Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball Machine!?
Video
First Look: They Actually Made a Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball Machine!?
Sonic the Hedgehog is officially entering the world of pinball, and today we’re going behind the scenes at Jersey Jack Pinball to check out their brand-new Sonic the Hedgehog...
Highlights
- Sonic the Hedgehog pinball is designed by Steve Ritchie for Jersey Jack Pinball and emphasizes continuous fast-paced gameplay with flow, distinguishing it from start-and-stop mechanics in other games like Mortal Kombat.
- The game features an upper playfield with extensive shot variety, including orbit, 180-degree loop, bounce-back targets with springs, Vuk, and Eggman battle capability.
- Ring collection is a core mechanic mirroring the video game; collecting 100 rings grants an extra ball. Rings also appear as LED displays showing 16-bit Genesis-era animation as a throwback feature.
- The magnetic accelerator loop on the left ramp was iterated through several designs before reaching the final version and represents a signature Sonic design element.
- The game has over 2,000 LEDs total, including 21 LEDs in each Chaos Emerald representation. The Collector's Edition features gold wireform ramps (versus silver on Arcade/SE) and exclusive exterior lighting.
- Three pricing tiers are available: Arcade Edition at $10K (entry-level, standard decals, no armor/shaker/internal R-blades), Special Edition at $12K (powder-coated armor, acrylic topper, silver wireforms), and Collector's Edition at $15K (gold wireforms, premium topper, full exterior lighting).
- The game took three whitewoods (playfield prototypes) to reach the final design.
- The game theme is based on Sonic Generations (not 16-bit era specifically), though 16-bit throwback elements are incorporated via LED ring displays.
- The game includes four exclusive feature modes (all accessible to players), with Supersonic qualified by collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds. Chaos Emerald Multiball is described as the easiest multiball to start.
- Jersey Jack has designed the game to attract new players unfamiliar with pinball or Steve Ritchie, with the goal of hooking them on mechanics like the magnetic accelerator loop.
Notable quotes
“When Sonic starts, he is always running. And that's not the way a normal pinball machine works. So Mortal Kombat Machine has lots of times where you start and stop and try to catch the ball and continue on. And we really wanted to have that feeling of once Sonic starts running, you're always going and going and going.”
“Working on Sonic the Hedgehog has really been like a dream come true.”
“It's one of those features that gets better the more you play it. And if you've been looking for an excuse to improve your nudging game, this is it.”
“The Magnet Ramp looks like magic because there's almost nothing you can see of how it works when you play the game, other than what it does to the ball. But behind the scenes, there's so much going on and so much work that went into developing it.”
“Being a huge fan of Sonic, when we were developing the software for this game, we really wanted it to feel like a Sonic game, right? We needed to have checkpoints. We needed you to feel like you were progressing through the level.”
“I'm really like more excited because electronics and a lot of other things are making a lot of things I've dreamed about possible.”
“I love that they brought back the arcade edition again. They sort of resurrected this whole idea of an arcade edition with Harry Potter. I like it because it's an entry-level product that's basically the same exact play field.”
“Describe this game in one word. Hyperkinetic.”
“I think this title is going to attract a lot of people. People who never thought to buy a pinball machine before.”
“The code already feels very well developed. And while there's still more to come, I love seeing games launch in a state that already feels this complete. That's something Jersey Jack has constantly done well.”
Entities
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Sega· company
- Harry Potter (pinball)· game
- Mortal Kombat (pinball)· game
- Sonic Generations· game
- Sonic the Hedgehog (pinball)· game
- Terminator 2 (pinball)· game
- Amy· game_character
- Eggman· game_character
- Tails· game_character
- City Escape· game_location
- Green Hill Zone· game_location
- Chaos Emeralds· game_mechanic
- RetroRalph· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Taylor· person
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